BENGALURU: Veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister for Minority Affairs K Rahman Khan, who revisited the thoughts of freedom fighter Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, gave a call to the Muslim community to start thinking as the second majority community, constituting 22 crore of the country’s population, which is as big as Indonesia’s and bigger than Bangladesh’s.
The former deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha told The New Indian Express that adopting the attitude of being a majority will help the community strengthen itself, and contribute to nation building. “As Dr B R Ambedkar had said, the success of democracy is in the participation of all communities. Ambedkar got bargaining power for reservation for SC/STs when the separate electorate was abolished, but we lost the privilege of political reservation when the Muslim leadership opted for partition of the country, except for Maulana who opposed it throughout his life,” he remarked. “Muslims should now adopt an attitude of majority and prove their competency.”
On Muslims supporting the Congress, the veteran leader clarified that the community supports whichever party follows the ethos of secularism enshrined in the Constitution. “We support the Congress, not for the several welfare schemes it has brought about but for its secular and inclusive ideology,” he clarified.
On implementation of the Sachar Committee report recommendations on socio-economic situation of Muslims, he said the Kundu Committee he had set up as minister for minority affairs, had revealed that only 45 per cent of the set target was reached until the time UPA-II was in power at the Centre.
JDS to help BJP in bypolls
There is no doubt that the JDS fielded Muslims in Hanagal and Sindagi for the October 30 bypolls to divide Muslim votes to help the BJP, Khan alleged. “The JDS might have its base in five districts of Old Mysuru region, but not pan Karnataka. If there were no Muslim candidates, the party would not even get 500 votes,” he said.